


Steve Rogers Syndrome

by melody_fox



Category: Captain America - All Media Types, Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Gen, kara danvers but with pre-serum steve rogers' health, kara has health issues
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-04
Updated: 2019-07-04
Packaged: 2020-06-09 16:09:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,065
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19479406
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/melody_fox/pseuds/melody_fox
Summary: What if Earth's yellow sun helped Kara a little more than we thought it did?What if Kara had been born with all the same health problems that Steve Rogers had?





	Steve Rogers Syndrome

**Author's Note:**

> please don't hate me, i actually know very little about these health issues, but i'm trying to learn and understand. this is part of the process
> 
> let's see where this goes, eh?

It wasn’t very often that a child on Krypton would be born with a defect or an illness, but Kara seemed to have all the bad luck. Like her uncle and aunt, her parents had wanted to have Kara naturally, not genetically created by the Codex.

Thirteen years and several chronic illnesses later, Kara almost wished they hadn’t. Kara expected to die before Krypton would, given the number of times she’s had to go to the hospital in the last month. Between the arrhythmia, asthma, anemia and scoliosis, Kara wasn’t sure what would kill her first. She didn’t really care, to be honest.

Then, out of nowhere, her parents reveal a plan to save both her and Kal, who miraculously was born healthy. The two last members of the House of El would be sent to a planet called Earth, and there, the yellow sun would stabilize Kara. She and Kal would live on, and Krypton’s legacy would be secure.

Kara had 5 minutes to either argue with her parents or say goodbye for good.

When she saw her planet exploding mere moments later, Kara wished she had argued.

The crying brought on from her loss left Kara gasping for air and looking frantically for her inhaler; which, in the rush to leave Krypton, had been completely forgotten.

She didn’t breathe right until Kal ripped off her pod door twenty-four years later.

***

Kara didn’t realize how dependent upon her new health she had become until she burnt out her powers. In her frustration, Kara had unleashed her entire arsenal of strength upon Red Tornado, and the breathlessness that came afterward just would not go away.

“Supergirl? Are you alright?” Hank’s voice came over her comm’s, and she realized that her super hearing hadn’t picked up his voice at all. Without her comm, she wouldn’t have heard him at all.

She kept gasping, her chest aching and her head pounding. “I— I’m— f-fine. I—“

“Kara? Kara, I can’t hear you, are you alright?” It was Alex’s voice this time.

Kara fell to the ground, grasping at her chest, struggling to pull in oxygen. She felt light headed, and the whole around her was spinning. “Ale— can’t— brea—“

“Kara, I’m coming, just stay there.” Alex sounded frantic.

Kara didn’t even think about staying put. She was just struggling to breathe. Suddenly, she was back on Krypton, and her mother was helping her through another asthma attack, just like this one. Only that time, her mother had been around the corner. Kara couldn’t even remember where Alex was right now.

It seemed a lifetime, but soon Alex was rushing to her side, and a whole medical team surrounded her within moments. An epipen and an oxygen mask later, she still didn’t feel much better.

***

A solar flare. That’s what Clark called it. He’d given it a special, fun, gimmicky name. She had never been more angry at or jealous of her cousin. For him, he just lost all the powers that made him special. He was human, but he was fine. Kara had literally lost the ability to breathe right. Hours after the incident with Red Tornado, Kara was still laying under the solar lamps, the radiation seeming to do nothing for her aching lungs and irregular heartbeat.

“Can you tell me exactly what just happened?” Alex was clearly worried, and Kara didn’t blame her.

“I solar flared. Burned my powers out.”

“Yeah, clearly. I figured that much out myself. I meant the whole… asthma attack and“— Alex looked at the heartbeat monitor in disbelief — “irregular heartbeat and super high blood pressure. What’s with that? Is there something you’ve forgotten to tell me?”

Memories of hospital trips and scares when she was younger all flooded to the surface of her mind. She hadn’t bothered to tell the Danvers or Kal of her previous conditions because she had thought they’d all gone away. One day she had struggled to breath and suddenly she found herself on a planet where all her illnesses seemed to have been cured. She could run, she could see and she could now do extraordinary things no one thought possible before. Kara had wanted to move on and forget.

But every good thing comes to an end apparently. Kara sighed, and her chest ached again. “Kal wasn’t the only reason my parents sent me here.”

Alex listened quietly as Kara explained the problems she had faced growing up. Worry and sympathy evident on her face, she asked, “How come we didn’t discover this problem when we trained with the Kryptonite emitters?”

Kara didn’t answer immediately as she helped herself slowly off the table. Alex’s hand hovered just an inch away from her arm and Kara wished she hadn’t felt that was necessary. Sighing, she replied, “I don’t really know. But I thought I was powerless back then. That’s nothing compared to how I feel now.”

***

Getting a cold two days later did not help matters at all. Two days of her old health problems were starting to take their toll. Already weak and struggling to relax into her far weaker body, Kara stumbled into CatCo with an inhaler stuffed into her pocket, tissues in one hand, and Cat Grant’s daily special clutched precariously in the other.

Winn was understandably worried. James had yet to make an appearance, and Kara really did not want to have to explain her situation more than once, so she brushed off his questions simply stating, “I just solar flared. I’ll explain it all later.”

Cat Grant figured her out within seconds. Confusion and suspicion in her eyes, she looked Kara up and down.

“ Kiera? You never get sick! That’s the best part about you!”

“That’s the best part?” Kara couldn’t help but voice her disappointment.

But to be honest, she had agreed with Cat. She wished her powers were as permanent as her first 12 years here had led her to believe. But she didn’t argue when Cat sent her home, actually grateful for the small mercy her usually uncaring boss had granted.

Unfortunately for Kara, the day had to get worse before it could get better. After an earthquake, a broken arm, and a terrifying experience stopping a robbery, she finally was able to get back her strength to save James from falling to his death.

That night, she thanked Rao again and again for the ability to breathe.


End file.
